Hello from Russia

Hello everybody!
I am a post-graduate student doing research on manipulative strategies in the American election discourse. Ive read the candidates speeches, different articles about them and noticed some really interesting things.
For instance, the words 'fascist'/'fascism' were frequently used to discredit both Democratic and Republican candidates: liberal fascist (Hillary Clinton), Obama fascism (Barack Obama), Lipstick fascist (Sarah Palin). Why? What was the speakers motivation? Actually, these words are practically never used in the Russian election discourse.
Or another thing. Barack Obama was called Marxist, Communist, Socialist, Afro-Leninist. I guess these labels are very offensive in the US. If you are American tell me how you feel about people called such names.
And last. President Barack Obama is considered a great orator. Did his speaking style help him get the voters support? In what way?
Id appreciate any opinions. If you answer at least one question, Ill be happy.

Obama was elected for one reason: George W. Bush. Obama was (and is) a relative unknown with little experience and a questionable past, but the hatred for George W. Bush and the GOP allowed him and other members of the Democratic Party to take power.

Because of Obama's policies and the fact that there are millions who don't have a voice in America, this could come to pass:

The words "Fascist" and Marxist" are thrown around quite a bit, but you'll notice that an explanation as to why someone is a fascist or marxist never follows the accusation.

Politicians do this in order scare people into voting against their opposition. Those sorts of baseless accusations don't impress me, maybe it works on others, but I doubt it really makes much of a difference.

As far as Obama being a great orator, I disagree. It takes more than just being able to get through a sentence or two without stuttering to be a great orator. He has never convinced me to change my opinion, because for the most part I consider his speeches to be full of empty rhetoric. In my opinion, he won the election because enough people in this country were fed up with Bush and the rest of the neo-conservative clowns (like McCain), and Obama was the other guy. It's that simple.

Hello everybody!
I am a post-graduate student doing research on manipulative strategies in the American election discourse. I&#8217;ve read the candidates&#8217; speeches, different articles about them and noticed some really interesting things.
For instance, the words 'fascist'/'fascism' were frequently used to discredit both Democratic and Republican candidates: &#8216;liberal fascist&#8217; (Hillary Clinton), &#8216;Obama fascism&#8217; (Barack Obama), &#8216;Lipstick fascist&#8217; (Sarah Palin). Why? What was the speaker&#8217;s motivation? Actually, these words are practically never used in the Russian election discourse.

Click to expand...

Americans basically have two poltical boogiemen--facism and communism.

Depending on whether one leans to the left or right, the politically ignorant will identify government gone wild as either becoming fascistic or communistic.

Since most Americans don't apparently understand those worlds actually have any meaning other than Hitlerian facism or Stalineque Communism, we use the words more as an epithet than in a more correct political scientific way.

What they really mean is TOTALITARIAN, but hey...people are ignorant.

Or another thing. Barack Obama was called &#8216;Marxist, Communist, Socialist, Afro-Leninist&#8217;. I guess these labels are very offensive in the US. If you are American tell me how you feel about people called such names.
And last.

Click to expand...

How we feel about people called such names depends on whether or not we feel those names are an accurate assessment of what we think they are.

The dumber right wingers call anyone not of their ilk communists. Nobody with a clue cares what they think.

The dumber left wingers call anyone not of their ilk fascists. Nobody with a clue really cares what they think, either.

President Barack Obama is considered a great orator. Did his speaking style help him get the voters&#8217; support? In what way?

Click to expand...

Exactly the same way any great orator can sway any crowd in any land on earth.

It helped Obama tremendously, of course, that the man he replaced was incapable of cobbling together a coherent sentence.

Many of us felt a sense of relief that finally someone who didn't make Americans sound like a nation of complete nitwits would be speaking for us.

You have to understand, American poltics has ALWAYS had a streak of anti-intellectualism.

As a a people, we have our doubts about the value of the intelligensia, especially the intelligencisa of the humanities and social scinces (Americans love our engineers and hard sciences, though)

So there are times when someone who appears to be just a regular fellow, (read a tongue tied nitwit) can still attain power.

But generally, even if our leaders ARE highly intelligent, they are seeking not to appear to be too intellectual, or too social scientifically theoretical either.

Americans almost NEVER elected anyone who is too OBVIOUSLY an intellectual.

There are regional differences however which do make a difference in this generalization.

The NorthEasterners still tend to love academics, whereas the South and South westerners love the "Ah shucks Ma'am" populist caracatures.

American, much like Russia, does not have one poltical zietguiest.

It has at least five very different regions with very different approaches to just about everything.

Hello everybody!
I am a post-graduate student doing research on manipulative strategies in the American election discourse. Ive read the candidates speeches, different articles about them and noticed some really interesting things.
For instance, the words 'fascist'/'fascism' were frequently used to discredit both Democratic and Republican candidates: liberal fascist (Hillary Clinton), Obama fascism (Barack Obama), Lipstick fascist (Sarah Palin). Why? What was the speakers motivation? Actually, these words are practically never used in the Russian election discourse.
Or another thing. Barack Obama was called Marxist, Communist, Socialist, Afro-Leninist. I guess these labels are very offensive in the US. If you are American tell me how you feel about people called such names.
And last. President Barack Obama is considered a great orator. Did his speaking style help him get the voters support? In what way?
Id appreciate any opinions. If you answer at least one question, Ill be happy.

Click to expand...

Welcome to USMB. This thread is for introductions. Please discuss your politics in the other forums.

The definitions of the words you are asking about depends more on the person misusing them than the dictionary.

Useful Searches

About USMessageBoard.com

USMessageBoard.com was founded in 2003 with the intent of allowing all voices to be heard. With a wildly diverse community from all sides of the political spectrum, USMessageBoard.com continues to build on that tradition. We welcome everyone despite political and/or religious beliefs, and we continue to encourage the right to free speech.

Come on in and join the discussion. Thank you for stopping by USMessageBoard.com!